Student Showcase
Student Showcase 2021
29th Annual Student Showcase
From carbon to choreography, our students at the University of Arizona are performing industry-leading research. The Graduate and Professional Student Council created the Student Showcase in 1992-93 to celebrate this student research, and this year was no exception!
What is Student Showcase?
Click or enter to reveal information below Click or enter to hide information belowOver one hundred and fifty students participated in this exhibition of undergraduate and graduate scholarship demonstrating the wide spectrum of University student research projects. Student Showcase offers students a significant forum for communicating the importance of their research to the broader University of Arizona community.
Implemented in 1992-93 by the GPSC, Student Showcase represents a campus-wide student-run research exhibition at the University of Arizona. Students who participate in this event can be proud of their efforts and academic achievements. Demonstrating the valuable research that takes place at the University, Student Showcase also has the honor of including state representatives and many other community members as judges.
Categories for Showcase
Click or enter to reveal information below Click or enter to hide information belowNote that the categories are topic dependent, and does not apply to which academic area you are from. The categories are self-select, but the GPSC committee retains the right to decide on which category you should be in.
In 2021, the total awards available amounted to $27,700 in cash prizes!
Traditional Categories
- Communication and Expression
- Research that involves compilation, analysis, and manipulation of data, ideas, and/or methods of sharing information. (i.e. media, citizen science, pedagogy etc.)
- Community, Culture, and Society
- Research regarding social, economic, cultural and/or political issues. (i.e. community initiatives, language development, social justice, public policy etc.)
- Technology and Innovation
- Research producing advancements or novel techniques/methods, or entrepreneurial endeavors. May incorporate engineering of devices or utilize digital/computer technologies. (i.e. app development, software/hardware, digital humanities, innovative startups etc.)
- Human Health
- Research impacting the well-being of humans at the individual, community, and global levels. (i.e. healthcare policy, mental health developments, medical devices, insects as a form of protein etc.)
- Environmental Impact
- Research confronting environmental issues and concerns, anywhere on the local to global spectrum. (i.e. sustainability projects, natural disasters, pollution mitigation etc.
Sponsored Awards
- Katheryne B. Willock Library Research Award
- Win $1,000 for telling us how you used the library for your research! The annual Katheryne B. Willock Library Research Award recognizes undergraduate and graduate students participating in the University of Arizona Student Showcase who have made extensive use of the services and resources at the University of Arizona Libraries.
- BIO5 Innovator Award
- The BIO5 Innovator Award recognizes one graduate and one undergraduate student exhibitor whose work best represents the goals of BIO5 in one of the following areas: multidisciplinary bioscience research; innovation in biosciences education; or entrepreneurship (bioscience technology transfer, new ideas for public/private partnerships etc.). These awards are provided by the BIO5 Institute at The University of Arizona. Each winner is awarded $350.
For the 2021, showcase, GPSC was supported by the Provost's Office to also fund five new Special Award Categories
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Award
- Eligible research advances knowledge of or addresses issues that impact historically marginalized communities. Research could cover any of the following topics: health disparities, criminal justice reform, homelessness among transgender/gender non-binary youth, student experiences across gender, race, national origin, disability and socioeconomic status at predominantly white institutions (PWIs).
- Award for Community Based Participatory Research
- Community-based participatory research is inquiry that is aimed at informing solutions to benefit the community, through collaboration with community members. Community members can be involved in any of the stages of the process, e.g. determining the research question, deciding on inquiry method(s), data collection, analysis, or dissemination of findings.
- Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Award
- Projects in this category should contain some component of research that focuses on gender and women's issues. These projects should have a long-term goal of advancing gender equality or the cause of women and girls.
- Sustainability Award
- To obtain a sustainability designation, research must address issues related to the three pillars of sustainability: environment, economy, and society. Content can relate to sustainable development in creating a healthy and thriving resource system for all; environmental issues, social issues applied to sustainable development such as human welfare, social equity issues or social/organizational/behavioral change; economic issues applied to sustainable development; discourse focused on the interconnection of world resources and the human condition from a long-term perspective; or content related to policy and communications issues applied to sustainable development.
- Cross-Disciplinary Research Award
- This award recognizes student participation in research at the intersection of multiple disciplines or as part of a larger cross-disciplinary collaboration. Oftentimes, these projects are hard to categorize in a single area of study and involve the application of knowledge and expertise from multiple fields to develop solutions that will have broad societal impact.
2020-2021 winners
Click or enter to reveal information below Click or enter to hide information belowTraditional Category Awards
Communication + Expression (graduate) | First |
Valeria Pfeifer |
PhD Candidate, Psychology |
Second |
Angell Kim |
Master’s in Public Administration |
|
Community, Culture, Society (graduate) | First |
Elaine Rhee |
PhD Candidate, Economics |
Second |
Ellen Carroll |
PhD Candidate, Social Psychology |
|
Tech + Innovation (graduate) | First |
Michelle Bailey |
PhD Candidate, Aerospace Engineering |
Second |
Marwan Abduljawad |
PhD Candidate, Chemical Engineering |
|
Human Health (graduate) | First |
Davina Dobbins & James Hollister |
MBA/MPH Candidate & Master’s, Biostatistics |
Second |
Riley O’Neill |
PhD Candidate, Clinical Psychology |
|
Environmental Impact (graduate) | First |
Tshering Sherpa |
PhD Candidate, Geosciences |
Second |
Hunter Lohse |
Master’s of Landscape Architecture |
|
GPSC Peer Award (graduate) |
Chen Chen |
PhD Candidate, Chinese Linguistics |
|
Human Health (undergraduate) | First |
Giovanni Marquez |
Bachelor’s, Psychological Science |
Second |
Kelsey Bawden |
Bachelor’s, Neuroscience |
|
Community, Culture, Society (undergraduate) | First |
Fiona Nguyen |
Bachelors in Psychological Sciences |
ASUA Peer Award |
Kristina Sin |
Bachelor’s, Biochemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology |
|
President's Award |
Grace Quirk |
PhD Candidate, Genetics |
|
Provosts' Special Award Categories |
|||
Community Based Participatory Research Award | First | Hennessy Miller | Master’s of Education |
Second (shared) | Davina Dobbins | MBA/MPH Candidate | |
Second (shared) | James Hollister | Master’s of Biostatistics | |
Second (shared) | Ashley Low | PhD, Public Health | |
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award |
First |
Ellen Carroll |
PhD Candidate, Social Psychology
|
Second | Heather Gahler | PhD Candidate, Communications | |
Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Award |
First |
Michael Quiring |
Master’s of Public Health |
Second | Heather Gahler | PhD Candidate, Communications | |
Cross-Disciplinary Research Award |
First |
Allyson Blanck |
Master’s of Arts, Classics |
Second | Hongni Gou | PhD, Sociocultural Dimensions of Second Language Acquisition | |
Sustainability Award | First |
Lea Schram von Haupt |
Master’s of Natural Resources |
Second | Hunter Lohse | Master's of Landscape Architecture | |
Sponsored Awards | |||
Willock Award | Michelle Bailey | PhD Candidate, Aerospace Engineering | |
Chen Chen | PhD Candidate, Chinese Linguistics | ||
David Haddad | MD Candidate | ||
Violeta Martinez | PhD Candidate, Chemical Engineering | ||
Srujitha Marupuru | PhD Candidate, Pharmaceutical Sciences | ||
Fiona Nguyen | Bachelor’s, Psychological Science | ||
Bio5 Award |
Tabitha Green | Master’s of Clinical Translation Sciences | |
Kristina Sin | Bachelor’s in Biochemistry & Molecular and Cellular Biology | ||